From School Library Journal
Grade 7–10—With summer camp over, Marissa and her best friend, Sterling, eagerly await the beginning of sophomore year. Reality kicks in the first day of school though, and, according to Marissa, "it majorly sucks." Sure, Derek is at least smiling at her, but her history of anxiety and depression still haunts her, even though she is determined to put it behind her. Nash, her old friend and next-door neighbor who has not spoken to her in several years, is assigned as her lab partner. She enjoys talking with him but thinks he is much too nerdy for her. As the school year progresses, Derek breaks up with his girlfriend and he and Marissa begin to date. Everything is going well until she realizes that Nash has fallen for her, her parents are splitting up because her mother has had an affair, Derek and his ex are spending a lot of time together, Sterling is about to hook up with a guy she met online who is at least six years older than she is, and her depression is returning. Marissa can become a bit tiresome and the story's pacing is uneven—parts of it seem to go on forever—but the teen and her friends are realistic as they struggle to make sense of high school, romance, and families and as they realize that not one of them has a perfect life and that they all need each other's friendship and love.—Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton
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Seems like there ought to be an advocacy group for the stereotyped hot guy of YA literature who is always portrayed as a cheating slimeball. This title follows a familiar story line: Marisa is thrilled when gorgeous Derek starts dating her, but it doesn’t last, and he is caught flirting heavily with his ex. The demise of her parents’ marriage coincides with Marisa’s own failing relationship, and astute readers will realize that her misplaced anger with her father should be redirected to her mother, who is the one having an affair. Throughout all this, nice, nerdy, next-door-neighbor Nash is there to support Marisa (and the rest of the school in his anonymous nightly advice podcasts, in which he answers e-mails and IMs). The twists in the plot are pretty transparent, and the language is peppered with enough “he goes,” “she’s like,” and “whatev’s” to signal the demise of grammatically correct English. Even so, the romance is less graphic than in many other similarly themed YA novels, and middle-school girls looking for love will find fulfillment here. Grades 7-10. --Cindy Dobrez
Review
Colasanti keeps [the story] fresh by speaking to teens in their own language...Chick lit for girls who think. ---Kirkus Reviews
"Colasanti presents an authentic picture of how complicated it is to be a teenager, especially one in love." --Publishers Weekly
"Author Colasanti has a knack of sustaining the heart-pounding suspense of young love for the length of a novel while managing to make it read, charmingly, like a conversation." --The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Marissa...and her friends are realistic as they struggle to make sense of high school, romance, and families." --School Library Journal
"The book is strong on snappy teen dialogue..." --VOYA
About the Author
Susane Colasanti is the bestselling author of When It Happens, Take Me There, Waiting for You, Something Like Fate, So Much Closer, Keep Holding On, All I Need, Now and Forever, and the City Love trilogy. Susane has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University. Before becoming a full-time author in 2007, Susane was a high school science teacher for ten years. She lives in New York City. You can connect with Susane at susanecolasanti.com.
